Up Next
Back to Show
Reactions
How Do We Know How Old the Earth Is?
Season 4
Episode 31
Since there’s no “established in” plaque stuck in a cliff somewhere, geologists deduced the age of the Earth thanks to a handful of radioactive elements. With radiometric dating, scientists can put an age on really old rocks — and even good old Mother Earth. For the 30th anniversary of National Chemistry Week, this edition of Reactions describes how scientists date rocks.
Support Provided By
Season
12:07
This element powers glow in the dark exit signs, keychains, and costs $30,000 per gram.
9:53
Scientific fraud rocked the Alzheimer’s research community. Did it help point to a cure?
12:54
Alex Dainis explores whether or not your milk needs to be pasteurized. Yes, it really does.
14:04
George tests a revolutionary new way to stick stuff together.
12:02
Sometimes the difference between life-saving drug and deadly side effect is chirality.
17:23
What happens when you eat morel mushrooms.
10:31
WARNING: this video contains incredible macro footage of supercooled water droplets nucleating ice.
13:12
Let’s dive into the science behind ocean alkalinization!
16:56
Discover why curdled milk is the key to the best cocktail you’ll ever taste.
10:13
Scientists are finding the building blocks of carbon ring structures… out in space!
12:00
George becomes a pyromaniac to figure out if ammonia is the fuel of the future.
13:06
Why Alex is terrified of antibiotic resistance, and what chemists are doing about it